It presents step by-step training programs and showing advice from recognized experts in hunters, jumpers, equitation, dressage, and eventing, along with money- and time-saving ideas on health care and stable management.
When Practical Horseman first appeared in January of 1973 as an outgrowth of the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association’s magazine, The Pennsylvania Horse, it covered the breeding, care, feeding and training of racehorses as well as sporthorses. But its focus as your link to the leaders in training, riding and horse care was there from the start. Since then, our mission has always been to make your life with horses better. To celebrate, in each issue this year, we’re taking one of the four disciplines we cover and showcasing how PH has covered the evolution of that sport over the last 50 years. This includes changes in terms of safety, competition and training approaches as well as the leaders of the sport. In this issue we’re highlighting eventing, so turn to…
On average, AHFEH member organizations find forever homes for more than 1,000 horses each year. In 2022, an estimated 7,829 horses were being cared for at AHFEH rescue facilities, and 1,241 of those horses found their forever homes. Celebrate with us by recognizing four of those 1,241 special horses. AMAZING RECOVERY Bonanza showed up malnourished and underweight, with an abscess in her frog that caused a lot of pain and swelling in her leg. On top of that, she had elevated liver enzyme levels. We weren't sure if she would make it. Our dedicated staff spent days carefully soaking and wrapping the foot until the abscess finally started to heal. Even after her abscess healed, Bonanza wasn't out of the storm-her liver enzyme levels were still elevated, and she wasn't putting…
1 Overall: My first impression is that this rider is behind her horse’s motion, getting a little left and using his mouth for balance. You can see that because the bit is making him “smile,” and he looks a little unhappy. Leg: The stirrup is behind the ball of her foot—it needs to move closer to her toe so it’s right under the ball of her foot. Then she can press her heel down more. I think her stirrup length is too short for this fence height. She could lengthen it so there’s not so much angle in her knee. This is causing her to push her seat too far to the back of the saddle. She’s compensating being behind the horse’s motion by pinching with her knee instead of having…
This picture shows Sara Gray on her 9-year-old mare Josie Sandra TF. Josie has had two foals and was started late into riding. She was only about a month under saddle when Sara got her. They are currently showing First Level. When I went as a “Bereiter” into a German dressage stable, the main trainer there told me: When you can ride your horse properly over the back into stretching, you are ready to ride serial changes (higher level fun movements). So, I am happy to write about this picture! A good stretch is a check of how the work before it is done and requires rhythm, balance, suppleness and the seeking of contact from the horse. It is proof that the training is following the classical rules and the…
“By horse crazy, I mean I am obsessed with horses, and always have been—obsessed with how to ride them, how to train them, how to care for them, how they think, and how we should think about them.”—Jim Wofford, in the introduction to his memoir, Still Horse Crazy After All These Years. James C. Wofford, known to many as “Jimmy,” “Jim” and “Woff,” spent his life with horses and was one of the best-known eventing trainers in the world. After Wofford died at age 78 on February 2, 2023, at his Fox Covert Farm in Upperville, Virginia, the accolades of his many students over the years, swept through the horse community. A Coach “I know we have lost the physical form of Jimmy, but we have not lost the things…
Military historians regard the invention of the stirrup as a major development in the art of warfare. If you were involved in mounted warfare and were trying to whack some guy on the head, it really helped to have the stability and security that stirrups provide. Fortunately, society has stopped using horses for warfare; equally fortunately, the stirrup has stayed with us. It is fortunate because, for a rider, the stirrups are the ground. Because I want you to be well “grounded” in your technique, I always make this point about the role of your stirrups. But stirrups or no stirrups, if you don’t have a good lower-leg position, you literally don’t have a leg to stand on. I have been teaching people to ride over fences for quite a…
